[VHFcontesting] [NEWSVHF] 222 Activity Night

[David Olean]

Hello Ron,

That is a good list of stations on 222 MHz for a November evening!  It 
was good to see the activity. The midwest contingent was active along 
with N1GC and W5EME. All in all a good night for 222MHz activity.

I got to the shack a bit early as I wanted to lift a few contacts off 
the desktop machine there to add to the running log.  Last weeks 
activity was ensconced there on the hard drive. The shack temp was 35 
degrees when I walked in and, true to form that desk top computer 
complained by hanging up twice. (Or should I say freezing up! It sure 
was cold enough)  I am going to take out the computer for the winter.  
It was handy for running Q65 and FT8 as it is always connected up and 
works well when temps are above 40 F.

I worked pretty much the same folks as you with the exception of K3SK 
and KA3FQS.  I heard Kim WA1PBU rag chewing and K1OR, while remote in 
Florida, is almost LOS from here in Salem NH. I did work Al, WA1T, your 
Lithuanian buddy. He loaded up his 144 antenna and got on for a few 
contacts.  I did try with K3SK on both FT8 and Q65, but signals never 
materialized. I heard a few meteors from him. I was not surprised as 
conditions were generally down with signals about 10 dB below normal 
summertime levels. The CCX beacon was definitely weak. The very strange 
thing with all this is that the very long haul stations were not 
affected by the poor condx. Both WA3EOQ and KO4YC were good copy once 
again. Cornell was actually loud on SSB. We exchanged 54 or 55 reports 
and he was an honest S6 when he signed off with 73. Not bad for a 511 
mile path.  I was worried about WA3EOQ as I heard zip from him in my 
first two calls. I found out later that he had forgotten to aim the 
antenna my way. As soon as he got lined up, I started hearing him.  
N2JQR in FN13 was worked on SSB. Wally N1GLT was on and had his 100 watt 
amplifier percolating along with his temp yagi a few feet off the 
ground. Hats off to Wally for keeping a rig on the air as he is 
downsizing and getting ready to move, so his tower is down.  For grins, 
I tried a sked with Joe, K9MRI, and we worked easily on MSK144. The 
meteor activity was way up as there was a minor shower in progress. I 
copied his call and grid right at the start in his 1st transmit period.  
So I ended up with the same # of stations and just a couple of call 
signs were substituted.  It was good to hear W2BYP on with a big signal. 
He was S5 here while he was working you. I called after ur Q and he 
turned the beam a tad northward and peaked up nice and loud on CW.  I 
can't wait to hear that signal off the Moon. Last week in the EME test I 
think, He was all set to try when the PS died. I ended up working John 
after he rigged up his driver amp to the antenna. He was in the -17 to 
-19 range with 90 watts.  1500 watts will put him in single digits. The 
only other single digit station I have heard on 222 is K5QE.

It sure was another FUN night on 222. I made no contacts on FT8 or Q65. 
One contact on MSK144, and the rest were CW and SSB.

Dave K1WHS

On 11/14/2023 9:18 PM, Ron Klimas WZ1V wrote:
> Good bunch on 222 tonight, band up and down with QSB:
> K1WHS FN43, N1LHP FN42, WA1MBA FN51, N1JEZ FN44,
> KA3FQS FN20, WA3NUF FN20, K1PXE FN31, W2TMA FN30,
> W9KXI FN12, WA3EOQ FM09, WB2VVV FN41, WA3GFZ FM29,
> WA1RKS FN32, K1FSY FN31, WA2LTM FN20, KO4YC FM17,
> W2BYP FN13, N1ROZ FN32, W1AIM FN34, WA1PBU FN42,
> K1OR FN42 on FT8, and K3SK FM07 on Q65B. TNX all !
>
> 73 Ron WZ1V FN31rh
>
>